Round 2 of March Mayhem 2015 Begins

Voting is now open in the 2015 Developers' Showdown, pitting developers against one another in a fight to the death.

The battle has begun. March Mayhem is our annual event in which The Escapist pits game developers head to head in bracket-style matchups. You get to vote on which developer you think performed better in 2014, and the winner goes on to face another opponent in the next round. Will Blizzard Entertainment be able to win out against the likes of Firaxis or Creative Assembly? Will Valve continue to advance, resting on nothing but it's own laurels? Only you can decide!

Here are some of the more notable matchups in the second round of voting:

(2) Telltale Games vs. (5) Valve Software

This year, Telltale has had their most ambitious year yet, releasing episodes not only for The Walking Dead, but for a Game of Thrones tie-in, a series based on the Fables comics titled Wolf Among Us, and a collaboration with Gearbox Software titled Tales from the Borderlands.

(2) Firaxis Games vs. (1) Blizzard Entertainment

Firaxis was originally founded in part by Sid Meier after his departure from MicroProse, and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive. Known primarily for its work on the Sid Meier's Civilization series, Firaxis developed the latest iteration, Beyond Earth in 2014.

It's up against Blizzard Entertainment. Last year, Blizzard released its CCG Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, currently played by 20 million people worldwide. In addition, World of Warcraft: Warlords of Dreanor was released, touted by many as the best expansion to the MMO yet. It's also working on the MOBA, Heroes of the Storm, which was available in alpha in 2014.